By Sunny Anderson Osiebe
President
of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has said that with the
recent economic recession in the country, interventions
in the nation’s educational system must no longer be business as usual.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President said there is a need
for comprehensive education reform across all levels to ensure that Nigerian students and schools are competitive globally.
“Considering
the economic situation in the country and the widening social
inequality, we need to ensure that all Nigerians are
well equipped for the future that lies ahead,” he said, “This means
that any reform in education can no longer be business as usual — it
must involve government, academia, and the private sector.
“What
we all want to see is an educational system that is meeting the demands
of the employers in both the public and private
sectors,” the Senate President said, “ However, it goes beyond just
reforming our school systems, we have to tackle this problem from the
root, which is primary education, all the way to tertiary education,
which is at the top.
“For
example, basic education is the primary responsibility of the local
governments. This needs to be reviewed. We have to look
into and redesign the current education model that has domiciled the
most important tier of education in the weakest tier of government.”
The Senate President also stated that all reform in education must be addressed from the simple perspective of: “What do we as
Nigerians want our children to know and be able to do at each stage of their education?”
“Once
we are able to answer this question, once we are able to determine what
our children should know and be able to do at every
age and level, from these expectations, we can begin to measure the
competence of both teachers and students.”
The
Senate President stated that over the next few months, the Senate will
be working to restructure Nigeria’s education system
by providing a legislative framework that will create more autonomy for
Nigeria’s education system to make it more competitive locally and
internationally.
0 comments: